We will never ask you to send money to a new account.
Not by email. Not by WhatsApp. Not because a deal is closing tomorrow.
Property transactions move large sums between parties who have often never met. That makes them among the most targeted transactions in every market we work in. If anything about a payment instruction feels different, stop and call us on the number above.
Before you move funds
Four checks. They take ten minutes and they are the difference between a completed transaction and an unrecoverable loss.
What we will and will not do
Knowing our normal makes an impostor obvious.
Urgency is the tool. Any pressure to move money faster than you can verify it is itself the warning.
Patterns we see across our markets
Select one to see how it works and what defeats it.
An attacker monitors a compromised mailbox — often the buyer's, sometimes a solicitor's — and waits until completion is imminent. They then send revised account details from a near-identical address, timed to arrive when a payment is expected.
Confirm every account detail by voice on a number you already held. Our banking details never change during a transaction.
If you think you have been targeted
Speed matters more than certainty. Report it before you are sure — a transfer can sometimes be recalled within hours, rarely after days. You will not be judged for raising a false alarm.
Reports go to our Governance & Ethics Chair. Suspected fraud should also be reported to your bank fraud desk and to the national fraud-reporting authority in your jurisdiction.